Friday, 27 January 2012

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A
single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple,
special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and
remember. Sharing this at Soulemama

Last batch of quail hatching in our homemade incubator...I've been thinking about starting to raise backyard quail again...

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

The chicken coop has gone through many a remodel. Primarily as a result of something I've seen through the net that would make keeping them easier or more manageable. The existing coop is showing some wear and tear and will need another makeover...

Started off as a tractor type arrangement that sits on top of the existing veggie garden bed - no cleaning!! Cons : it was very bulky to move from bed to bed when the time came.

Constructed a coop on castors and modified the above tractor into a run so it was easier to shift

Here it is in action

Decided that I needed the 3 veggie beds - if I left the arrangement as a tractor - I would really only have 2 working veggie beds. More cleaning for me to move mulch to veggie beds but it would mean I could use all 3 beds at the same time. Built stand for coop and sat it on a pallet.

Here it is with run - it was nice to have it close to the house because it meant gathering eggs was easy in the wet!

Moved the coop eventually down the bottom of the garden nearer the veggie beds to make moving mulch easier.

Existing arrangement with cute white picket fence - an ebay find!

Thinking of :
1. Removing mulch in the run and replacing it with sharp sand to make it drier for the girls. Currently using sugar cane mulch in the run - great for compost but it can get smelly when it rains too much - like this summer!!
2. Re-modelling the coop to make it slightly bigger - it needs to be patched up - starting to show signs of wear and tear and it's not leak proof.

This passionfruit vine would be all of 2 years old. I can see flowers and possibly even fruit but after reading the post and comments from 500m2 in Sydney I'm not holding much hope from harvesting anything significant till maybe next year. What's more with the chooks scratching around the roots of it, I've had suckers pop up everywhere... so it's not looking promising. Anyway, it doesn't seem to like the wooden trellis I've placed on the chicken coop to latch onto (yes I ran out of lattice - it was a second hand ebay purchase)... I'll have to put up some wire mesh - the wooden slats are just too wide for the tendrils. It is providing lovely shade for the girls though for which I am thankful.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Remember the untamed sprawling tomatoes left to their own devices? Tamed now - not sure if it's too little too late but at least I feel like I've made an attempt to make the vegetable patch more aesthetically pleasing! At least the poor things aren't sitting on the wet mulch. What's more in my clean up I do believe I spied a couple of trailing cucumber plants!

Thursday, 19 January 2012

One of the purchases that I made whilst in Singapore was this little teapot complete with its own strainer/filter for tea leaves. I had been wanting to move from the tea bags but I didn't fancy slurping bits of tea as I drink... so this is a godsend. Here's to a more environmentally friendly cup of tea!

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

A moment's reflection as I try to ease myself back to some sort of routine now that we're home. It's not easy. Especially after a long break. Old Nellie sits and waits... for music to once more fill the home... She bides her time...never rushing...every patient... so I took a leaf out of her book... to wait patiently till I find that groove once more... in the meantime, there is breakfast to be made, dishes to be done and laundry to be hung. It's good to be home.

Monday, 16 January 2012

Tomatoes weighed down with produce! I did contemplate staking them but didn't get the chance to before we left for Singapore

I believe this is pumpkin or perhaps it's rock melon...who knows? It's got a life of its own - hopefully we'll harvest something. I'm not holding out much hope with this wet summer - powdery mildew could well hit it before we get anything.

Who would've thought oregano flowers could be so pretty?

Harvest is plenty - 2 large tomatoes and lots of little small ones - bite size - perfect for popping into the mouth!